


don't let it burn, don't let it fade

by Hieiandshino



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Established Relationship, Implied Relationships, Implied future Reborn/Lambo, Light Angst, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Sad Ending, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 01:12:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15570471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hieiandshino/pseuds/Hieiandshino
Summary: Takeshi always thought he had the time. Turns out, for one thing, he didn’t.ORTakeshi finally goes to Italy, but there is no happy ending here.





	don't let it burn, don't let it fade

**Author's Note:**

> _Katekyo Hitman Reborn!_ does not belong to me.
> 
> Title comes from the song "Linger", by Cranberries.
> 
> Thank you for DuendeJunior for reading this story <3 Any mistakes are my own.

The Vongola mansion is big. Bigger than Takeshi thought it would be, and so white. It reminds him of their school in Nanimori, the same aspect of cleanliness that used to cling to the building and that made Takeshi respect it so much.

There is a man in front of the building, designated to welcome him, and for a moment Takeshi is disappointed that it’s not Gokudera — _Hayato_ , he thinks, because Takeshi has finally earned the right to call him by his first name —, but he must be busy, so. They enter the mansion and is just like he expected to be: full of light and art, red carpet on the long hallways, like those American movies that feature places like this. He has a room designed just for him, but the Vongola has many other apartments if so he wishes.

He’s not interested in that. He wants to know about Tsuna and Lambo and Ryohei and Hayato, Hayato, Hayato. The man smiles and says, _of course, sir_.

.

Turns out Hayato is not there. He is on a mission with Hibari, south of France. _Sounds beautiful_ , Takeshi murmurs and Tsuna smiles and says he’ll have the time to go there, if so he wishes.

He’ll have time, he always does. Now more than ever, when he is not just a baseball player, but something else. Something more.

_He’ll be back in a few days_ , Tsuna reassures and Takeshi just can’t wait.

.

Of all the things that Takeshi left behind, Hayato wasn’t one. He is more hallucination than memory, the way he manages to just keep himself inside Takeshi’s heart as he considers again and again all his priorities and the dreams he still will chase. He feels like he’ll always chase Hayato, and maybe that’s why he is here in Italy — not just because of Tsuna.

And yet—

He sees when Hayato and Hibari get out of the car. Their backs are straightened, they are not looking at each other. _And yet_ —

Hayato lets Hibari go inside first, and there is something in his eyes. A fondness that never existed before for Hibari. For Takeshi.

Maybe it’s the light, Takeshi decides as he takes a step back from the window, blindsided by something he did not count on. He stares at the door and soon Hibari enters, followed by Hayato, both who look at Takeshi for a little longer.

The smirk on Hayato’s face is prize enough. _Yo, baseball idiot_.

( _and yet_ )

.

Hibari is quiet, Hayato is not. He listens to Takeshi and seems glad that he is here. It’s been years since they last saw each other and Takeshi sees that there is always room for growth, for change. Hayato has changed so much. Some kind of hope clings to him like Hayato’s perfume clings to his suit after he steps away from a hug.

Takeshi wonders that if he hugs Hibari he’ll smell Hayato on him, too.

.

Lambo is taller than Tsuna already, even though he’s still fourteen. He barely remembers how to speak Japanese, already immersed on Italy and on one of those private schools that reminds Takeshi of Hogwarts, which sounds magical. When he comments on that, Lambo’s face looks grim. He has a bruise on his left cheek that seems to hurt and Takeshi knows it’s from Reborn.

Reborn.

_Where is Reborn?_ , Takeshi asks and Lambo’s eyes fill with tears. _In the city_ , is all he says before he leaves to train, he says, but the grounds for these things are on the opposite side of the mansion and Takeshi knows that hallway leads to the kitchen.

Takeshi watches the door for a moment, before he shrugs and decides that the city it is, then. He has questions and Reborn has always been the best to answer them.

.

Reborn is not a child anymore. A baby. He is an adult, charming and dangerous, his smiles like a knife that’s being honed to kill. There is a woman next to him — short black hair, curled, green eyes. When she winks at Takeshi, he has a flashback from Lambo of twenty five years, that glimpse they all saw all those years ago, during the fight between Leviathan and he.

Takeshi stares at Reborn for a long time after that, but the man does not say anything, just hides his eyes with his hat. He’s not smiling anymore.

Things definitely have changed. At least he isn’t the only one waiting for something.

.

Reborn, after a few drinks, tells him about the new rules. About Rome. About things Takeshi already knows and things he already has guessed. Every time there is an opening to ask about Hayato, Takeshi drinks some more, looking for the courage that existed for such a long time when it came to him. A few years ago Takeshi wouldn’t have bothered to hide his affection, would have asked Hayato out the moment he saw him, and yet—

_I told you to come with us right after school_. Reborn says, suddenly. _You smiled like an idiot and said you had the time._

Takeshi smiles at that. He remembers that very well.

_Turns out, you didn’t_.

The smile fades, but Reborn grins again, suddenly proud of himself.

.

It’s Ryohei that answers him. They are on a mission, Takeshi’s first in Italian soil — he always thought it would be with Hayato, but Hayato doesn’t take so many missions now, turns out, and that’s saying enough, isn’t it? — as an official guardian. They are waiting for a contact to show up and Ryohei is a little anxious.

When they were in school, Ryohei was always so cool. Worrying about the right things, but positive and always smiling. Takeshi almost doesn’t recognize his senpai now and wonders what made him get so worried so easily.

_What?_ , Takeshi finally asks. Ryohei stares at him for a long time before he says: _Hibari and Gokudera are together_.

He already knew that, kind of. Still, it hurts.

_Oh_. It’s all he says. _Why has nobody told me before?_

_Not everyone knows that_.

_Oh_.

.

Ryohei noticed it last Christmas, but Reborn has made it sound like they have been together for far longer. There was a party, Hibari only attended for five minutes, Gokudera for twenty and they both left together, though in different cars. Hibari never looked at anyone else in there, Gokudera promised he would stay all night with Tenth, to have fun, but suddenly he had something else to do.

The moment their eyes met, Ryohei remembers well, something clicked. When he asked the other day to Tsuna, he laughed and said that was impossible. Hibari and Hayato would never be together _like that_. Reborn, however, just confirmed, saying that they are kind of obvious, if you are looking at the right time.

.

_That sucks_ , is all Takeshi says.

_Yeah, I can imagine_ , Ryohei answers, voice sincere. _But I guess they are happy, and that’s what matters, right?_

.

Right?

.

It takes months for a mission between Hayato and Takeshi. Hayato smokes, Takeshi drives and they don’t talk. Still, Takeshi glances at Hayato more times than he should, at the way his hair dances as the wind blows, the way his eyes shine with the sun — for some reason, Takeshi thought Hayato would be adept to sunglasses, unused to the sun on his face, but that’s not the case. He likes it, even though he shouldn’t —, the way his cracked lips surround the cigarette as he inhales the smoke.

Is this what old painters felt before they created their most beautiful works?

_You can ask_ , Hayato says suddenly and Takeshi has to stare at him for a long time, even though he is driving. Hayato stares right back at him, eyes serious and serene at the same time.

_About what?_

_You know what_.

Takeshi opens his mouth, but doesn’t know what to say.

.

_Maybe_ , Reborn had said that first night in Rome, after they said their goodbyes, _Maybe you’re not the only one who came after him._

.

_Did I have any chance, Gokudera?_

_You don’t have to call me like that anymore. You know that._

_Did I?_

A pause.

_Maybe. If we had the time._

**Author's Note:**

> I did promise I'd be writing more in this fandom (in English, since I wrote it my whole life in Portuguese), though I expected to be more 8059... These days, however, I've been craving for 1859 and did a writing spree with five stories and two more that are coming, I think.
> 
> About this one... Well, this is the beginning of a dream. All I want is to write a 10k story about Takeshi coming to Italy to get together with Gokudera only to realize he should have done that sooner. Featuring more Hibari and more Gokudera, of course. Since I’m not in the mood or still didn't plan it through, I don’t know where to start and this was easier, we can start with this one.
> 
> I'm not much around tumblr, but I do take requests if anyone has them, now more than ever (I'm finishing my master's degree!!) and check from time to time. If you want me to write something on this or other fandoms... Please ask away~ Sometimes I get very bored and challenges always make me want to write, so here is [my tumblr](http://nightmareduringxmas.tumblr.com/), I guess lol
> 
> Thank you for passing by~


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